Reverse
by legendarytobes
Summary: Set in Season Seven, during "Blue  7.08 ," Clark goes to Jor-El to try and find where Kara and Lara are after getting rid of Zor-El, his uncle. Unlike in the show, Jor-El comes up with an even more insidious punishment for Clark...
1. Chapter 1

**Reverse**

"You can't be serious," Chloe said, glaring at him. "You just got yourself out of trouble. Remember? Creepy clone uncle? Sun being blocked out forever? Powerless with the blue K?"

Clark narrowed his eyes at her and glanced at his right hand where the ring had been stuck until after he'd managed to banish whatever his not-quite-uncle was. "Yeah, while it's been a busy twenty-four hours, I think I can remember that though."

She sighed and touched his arm. "Clark, you just finished dealing with, no offense, one crazy Kryptonian. Do you really want to go deal with Jor-El?"

"Kara's missing. I...I know that whatever I did to bring back the sun got rid of Zor-El." She quirked her brow at him and he sighed. Sometimes Chloe asked questions he didn't have real answers for. Okay, he did have answers for them, but they didn't sound human or even all that rational. "I...well I can feel it."

She frowned. "You're psychic?"

"If I were, I'd play the lottery more," he huffed. "No, I just...I dunno. It's hard to explain but it's like a family thing? I guess. Like if Lois were just gone somewhere or Lucy, poofed forever, wouldn't you know it?"

"Lois, yeah. I'd like to think that if something really bad had happened I'd feel it, but we're not exactly psychic twins or anything. It'd be a hope and a feeling. You're talking something tangible. You can feel Zor-El's gone, can't you?"

He nodded. "Yeah, but Lara and Kara aren't . I don't know where they are, but I know there on Earth and if Kara has had six hours to find me and hasn't yet? Then she's hurt pretty badly."

"Because she could be back here in under thirty seconds from Australia."

"Or Siberia or Patagonia, wherever," he added, falling into sync with her and slouching at sofa in the Talon apartment. He was glad Lois was off on "assignment," which Chloe was pretty sure meant off screwing Grant. He didn't have the energy to come up with a lie if she just barged in on them. "She's hurt, Chloe. She's my family and I know what came out of the crystal isn't Lara exactly."

"I hope it's more stable than Zor-El," she snapped.

"She's not gonna hurt me. I don't think she knew the ring was rigged, Chlo. I really don't."

Chloe glared at him. "It was convenient, Clark. You can't just think a little bit that your clone-mommy wasn't playing for team Zor-El?"

"She was played. Kara and Lara were played and now they're out there somewhere alone and unable to get here because if they could , with our speed they would be here."

"I'm not harshing your family."

He snorted. "You're not?"

"Zor-El part two was a sociopath that just attempted genocide. I think I'm allowed not to like him or his evil ass, especially after her thrashed you."

"I know, but Lara and Kara were tricked, Chloe, and they're my family. I mean even if Kara and I suck at trusting each other-"

"Understatement."

"Even if we suck at trusting each other," he corrected, moving on. "And even if this Lara is a replica of the real one...she's still family. She's still my bloodline, do you get that?"

She nodded and touched his shoulder. "I know and I know that having them here changes everything for you, believe me I do."

"Are you jealous?"

She blinked but didn't move her hand. "No, Clark, I'm actually not. Martha might be if you just show up at Christmas dinner with a new mom, but I'm not."

Clark winced at that. If he found Lara, he had fuck all idea how to explain her existence to his mom. He hadn't replaced his mom, exactly, she was just so busy in D.C. now and had a life and a duty that didn't include adopted alien sons who were followed around by clusterfucks.

And death.

Mom could have a life now without him, after he'd cost her her chance for a real kid and a dad. In his head, it made a lot of sense to go and spend time now instead if he could find them with Lara and Kara. They were like him. This was their stupid intergalactic bullshit and intrigue too. They'd been involved in it since before even Clark had been born. Mom...she was released from duty, really had been since he'd gotten his father killed.

"Mom...she'll understand. I'll explain it when I save them."

"Clark, don't go."

"Jor-El knows where they are. He always knows. He's an asshole but he's also pretty much omniscient."

"And if they're injured? If they're spread to Timbuktu? Don't you think that Jor-El, the all powerful, freaking did it?"

"He probably did to Kara for her part in all this but not Lara. Like, I do get it, she's not theLara exactly but it doesn't matter. This isn't the Jor-El."

"Your family is so confusing."

"I know," he said, sighing. "Any incarnation of Jor-El would help any incarnation of Lara. Iremember that part. It's the only memory I actually have of my real birth parents, not clones or evil computers or anything else. I remember that they loved me and they loved each other. I don't care how fucked up the AI is, it's not going to leave Lara to rot, okay? If I can at least find my mom then the two of us can work on tracking Kara from there with or without the AI's help."

Chloe's eyes were wide, scared. She wasn't as good an actress as she thought she was. "Clark, if you go, it'll hurt you. You know it does. When have you ever asked it for a favor when there wasn't a price? When?"

"I-"

"It took your dad's life. You said it branded you like an animal, and I know it has to be why you were a vegetable for Lois when she first ever came to Smallville. If it can do all those things and usually as lessons, what will it do when it's actively mad at you for almost getting the sun wiped out."

"I didn't mean-"

She grabbed his hands and hers were soft and warm in his. Delicate too. "Of course you didn't. But you disobeyed him and the Fortress was compromised because of it by someone Jor-El hated. Clark, it let you walk out of there once. Don't go back."

"Jor-El's not gonna kill me, Chloe. He doesn't like me any more than I like him but he needs me in one piece for 'training' some day. He's not gonna kill me."

"Define 'one piece.'"

"Huh?"

Chloe shook her head. "He can erase you. He did it before, right? That Kal-El stuff. There's a lot of ways to kill you without putting you in the ground, Clark."

"And Kara and Lara are out there somewhere, hurt, and they deserve for me help them. If Jor-El puts that fucking brand on me again or...you know about the black K. You can get some from Dr. Swann's estate if you had to. I hurt my family, Chloe. I'm the one who has to save them."

"Then we'll go togeher," she insisted hopping up and grabbing her coat. "I'm not letting you go to the Wonderful Wizard of Crazytown without me."

Clark sighed and stood up. Reaching out, he stroked the side of her cheek in a gesture probably more intimate than friends gave each other. That wasn't going to make her feel better. She'd see the gesture for what it was.

A goodbye, just in case Jor-El did go postal on him.

"You can't. You know how he feels about humans, and about you."

"Freezing me to death, the ass."

"Exactly, Chlo. You can't come. I'll be back in like an hour, okay? I'll go, get the info I need and I'll call you from the farm, alright? It's going to be alright."

She rolled her eyes and turned around toward her counter. "Let me just get my keys-"

He was in the Arctic before she finished her sentence.

No.

Clark shook his head and dug his hands deeper into the pockets of his red jacket. "I don't care what you want. I am telling you. Kara and Lara are lost. I don't know if you did it. I don't even care. I just want them back. Help me."

And I said no, my son, the AI replied.

Clark stilled, hating the way the AI's "speech" seeped into his mind, deep into his bones, almost overpowering him. "They're family."

Zor-El's traitor daughter and genetic creation are hardly family.

"It's Lara ."

It's an illusion that caused you to almost end the world with human sentimentality and attachments. Yes, my son, I've hidden them both but for your benefit.

"Benefit? The way you killed my real father."

I am your real father, but that was not my fault. The balance had to be paid. If memory serves, the wheel had not slated Jonathan Kent first.

"Lana," Clark replied, through gritted teeth.

Yes and how did that progress?

Was the AI gloating? Of course it had been more than happy to take his father instead of Lana's life, to eliminate the competition. Except it was never a contest. Jonathan Kent was Clark's dad. Always had been, always would be. The Fortress was merely the thing that killed him.

"I want Lara and Kara back. Help me find them. I...we can work together the three of us. Wouldn't three Kryptonians trying to help the world be better than one?"

Not when one's Zor-El's blood and one was made by his hand. They'd turn on you again.

"Lara didn't know!"

I deem it too dangerous. They are not your concern, Kal-El. In fact, with the phantoms gone and Kara's crystal destroyed, the only concern you should have is training.

"I need a few days then," he said. "I...I know I promised after everything was straightened out with Kara. I guess it is, isn't it?"

She is not dead, Kal-El, but she is not to be a factor in your life. Do not mistake me eliminating her from your immediate life and actually having gone and killed her. She lives. She merely has no memory of having been Kryptonian.

"You stripped her? Took her powers and her memories. Mom's too?"

He didn't think too hard on why it was easy to say that about a clone of a woman he'd never technically met. It probably didn't say good things about where he was in his relationship with his other mom.

Yes. They have a chance to live on Earth, to be safe from the dangers of the universe that seek you out for your abilities and heritage. It is optimum.

"They're all I have left of my family. Jor-El...I...please bring them back."

No and we shall start now.

"I have to fix things. I mean, the training could take a decade right?"

Usually.

"I have to tell Chloe and Lana. Hell, I have to find a place for Shelby to stay and I have to see my mom before I go for a decade. I owe them all that."

Humans and a dog do not merit your attention. We start now.

"No," Clark said, stepping towards the main control panel from where he could teleport himself home. "They're all the family I have left now that you've taken Lara and Kara. I have to at least say goodbye." He snorted. "Hell, I should even say something to Lois. She might need to know where to get a real cable repair guy."

And your attachments and emotions make you incredibly weak, Kal-El. It is unacceptable.

Clark shook his head and slid the key into its slot. "You always say the same things, Jor-El. Ilike being human. I like living with them. I love a few of them more than anything." He shrugged. "Hell, I even love Shelby like crazy, but I guess you'd not really understand the concept of a 'dog person.' I'm not cold like you."

You're impractical, rash, and emotional. Of course you're nothing like me or a real Kryptonian.

"You blew yourselves up," Clark reminded, cursing when nothing happened. "You blocked the signal?" Unfuckinbelievable. I'll be back in about twenty four hours after I take Shelby to D.C. Is it that big a difference?"

It's the principle. Human attachments are not your place .

"And yet that's what happens when you're raised human for a couple decades. You could train me for a decade or brainwash me or I don't know what, but I'd always care about my human side. I'd always want to be with them. I belong there. I mean...yeah, I don't fit perfectly, I know that. But I'm human too. The Kents gave me that. So all your bluster about it doesn't do much for me."

It's your fatal flaw. You care too much for them; you care too much about being one of them.

"I'm not human," Clark said tiredly. "I know that. I understand it. I don't accept it but I understand it. I think caring about them makes me better."

I think you are wrong.

"I know, and I guess I'll just freaking run home instead. Can't wait to spend ten years with you."

There was a pause and the Fortress darkened around him. Clark wondered if he'd finally gotten Jor-El to be quiet at least until he returned for training finally.

You misunderstand.

Clark stilled. When the AI started sounding more and more like a fortune cookie, things went south fast. "What?"

You are not worthy to train. You're not ready.

Thank god.

"Alright, I...next year maybe?" he fumbled, not really wanting to train ever but being a person of his word nevertheless.

You can never be ready until you learn to separate yourself from humans, until your truly understand you are not them.

"Oh believe me, I know," he replied. Not that he would ever voice it out loud to Jor-El, but he was damn well aware of how little he fit with humans and the transfer of his powers to Lana and some of their first activities after that just reinforced it.

I can make it clearer.

"No, really, I'll just come back in about a year. Everyone will be calmed down. I'll probably have used ISIS's computers to find Lara and Kara anyway. I, uh, should go." He turned to speed away and he found he couldn't move at all.

I shall eliminate all confusion and then you will come and be ready. Clark couldn't say anything to that. All he could do by then was scream at the pain assaulting him and then pass out.

Clark woke up in his own bed with Shelby curled at his feet. If the radio station blaring on his desk wasn't talking about another cold November morning in Kansas, giving the date of course, Clark would have thought he'd been dreaming all of it. But it was the morning after he'd gone back to the Fortress. Whatever Jor-El had done he must have sent Clark back to his own room right after.

Weird.

Clark hadn't expected to wake up at all, let alone to wake up in his own room. Lana wasn't there. She was legitimately spending time at Aunt Nell's, she'd even requested he call her to prove it. He wasn't sure they could repair anything after Lana's crime spree and near murder of him and Lex, not to mention Lois's hospitalization, but he'd at least done as she'd asked. They'd have to start building up trust somewhere, if they wanted to grow back together as a couple.

Still, it probably was a bad sign that he wasn't even that upset she wasn't beside him this morning.

Carefully, Clark sat up. He frowned and looked down at himself. Everything seemed the same. He felt as he always had and a quick blast of heat vision at a candle on Lana's bedside table, a bit of X-ray vision to see Shelby's skeleton, and a even a test of his strength on the metal spoon on his night stand (late night ice cream never put up), seemed to reassure him everything was as it should be.

You know.

If you were a Kryptonian.

"Huh," Clark said, sighing. "That's weird. Uh, not that I'm complaining, Shel," he said aloud. "But Jor-El's usually more creative with punishments. I mean apparently a lot of electrical or whatever energy is the gold standard now?"

His dog sat up and snorted.

"Right, food, of course," Clark said, casting a glance out the window. His alarm went off at five-thirty so he could do the early farm chores as the sun rose, just as his father had. He needed to move fast to get his own food and his dog's and be ready to go. Bleary-eyed, he stumbled into his bathroom and did the basics, including shaving (don't ask) and tooth brushing. He looked fine. No brands either.

Double huh. Maybe Jor-El was losing his touch.

Again, not something to complain about just disconcerting because this couldn't be the full punishment. It would make this the "nicest" one he'd ever had.

Shelby was barking and circling him by the time he spit out in the sink. Clark sighed and patted the ancient retriever's head. "Okay, buddy, I don't know why you get so excited. It's the same stuff it was yesterday and, shock, gonna be the same stuff tomorrow."

Shelby barked again and then whined.

Oh!

"Right, sorry, not thinking," Clark replied hurrying (human speed) down the stairs. "You want out?"

Shelby, slower than he had been but still spryly, finished his way down the kitchen stairs. He yipped again before scratching once, politely, at the back door. The sun was up by now and maybe Clark had let his mind wander a bit too much around flossing. Sighing, he reached for the door. "Thanks for waiting, boy."

Shelby snorted and ran out the open door. Clark started out after him, toward the paper on the bottom step and it must have really been marching on to six and he was behind like crazy. He got out from under the awning but felt it again, that pain, harsher than it had been the first time, reach through him. Clark screamed and fell to his knees on the steps, his hand still reaching out for the paper.

At first he couldn't process anything, just the pain, like being ripped apart anywhere the light touched. His right hand ached in a way that not even Kryptonite could approximate. Frowning, Clark looked down to see if there was green K near at all or any answer for the pain at all, a reason his right hand felt impossibly heavy.

What he saw, made him feel incredibly cold.

His arm, at least the part still shadowed by the porch's awning was normal, but somewhere near his wrist it changed, became like grey crystal and remained so over his hand. Swallowing, Clark concentrated on moving his fingers and was shocked when at least his right hand responded. It hurt like hell to move them under the light but he could.

It looked like...

...this was what had happened to the Phantom wasn't it? That the second he drew near the light that he crystallized, that it robbed him of his strength.

Except it was happening to Clark.

Jesus, what had Jor-El done now? 


	2. Chapter 2

**Reverse Chapter 2**

"Smallville is a waste of my time," Lois snapped, still glaring at the snow on the television screen. "He promised to help with the satellite dish two days ago and, yet, look at that snow. Might as well be in Switzerland!"

Chloe sighed at Lois. "Clark said he couldn't come over today. I...he had a long night last night he said and got a late start on his chores. I'm sure you'll have Jon Stewart and The Daily Show back soon enough, Lo."

"Like I said, useless. At least Oliver was mainly dependable oh and he does this thing with his tongue-"

"And wow, look at the time," Chloe said, looking up from her laptop. "I am gonna just go on over to the farm and ream Clark out for you. He should realize the priority involved with cable TV."

Lois shrugged. "Don't be so sensitive. I wasn't going to go into detail on Oliver...much."

Chloe snorted and scooped up her laptop and shoved it delicately in her messenger bag. "Meh, it was getting toward dinner anyway and Clark will cook if you make big enough puppy eyes and since Martha taught him everything he knows..."

"Ooh, then bring back a pie or two and a repairman?"

"Of course, cuz," she said before heading out to her car.

The drive to the farm wasn't a long one. It was a bit annoying that he was so Amish and lived about as far on Smallville's outskirts as possible, unless you counted the mansions of certain billionaires. Still, after about eight minutes, Chloe was pulling into a familiar drive way. It was still only four-thirty. Technically, when Clark had left his very rushed (and twelve hours' late, way to scare a girl) voice mail this morning, he'd asked her to come after sunset. Chloe would have waited, but she really didn't need to hear Lois go on about her love life or, well former love life. Of course, the rumor was that Oliver was solidifying more holdings in Metropolis and would be coming to town in January. Maybe something would get rekindled and her cousin would get over the dangerous attraction to an editor. Chloe knew her cousin wasn't corrupt and didn't use sex like that, but no one else would get Lois was just someone who followed her heart. The sooner Lois and Grant stopped seeing each other, the better.

Hell, she should put in a call to Arrow and ask him to come to town double time. Clearly, Lo missed him.

Sighing, she hopped out of her car and frowned. The cows were mooing frantically and she wasn't really that good with farm stuff but it occurred to her to wonder if they'd all been milked properly today. Then, as she approached the house closer, she was confused to find Shelby on the porch. He had a good sized coat, sure, and even had a sweater that he wore sometimes on cold Kansas mornings. Older dogs had bad self insulation. Still, he was curled on the porch swing, growling softly at the doggie door but refusing to go in.

"Shelby?" she asked and the dog whimpered, sidling up next to her and licking her hand. "God, where's Clark?"

Shelby whimpered louder and then took off, hopping into her car, which she'd left open in her confusion.

"Oh god," she said, digging out the stash of Kryptonite she had started keeping on her since Zod's lieutenants. She had a special lead case for the sliver she carried, but she always packed now. She wasn't stupid and after Zor-El, she was glad she did. Clearly, Clark hadn't gotten rid of him as well as he thought he had if Shelby was that scared and the farm this oddly off.

Steeling herself, Chloe walked into the front door and held up the Green K. "Zor-El, you better leave him alone!"

There was no answer and, at first, it was so dark in the house, with all the blinds drawn in the late afternoon sunset, that she didn't even realize that Clark was there, was sitting in the rocker in the family room, head in hands.

"Clark?"

He looked up at her and she frowned, reaching toward the curtains. It was still a few more minutes before the sunset completely, they could work on getting these open and some lights on. Then she'd figure out how to handle whatever other disaster they had on their hands.

"Don't."

"Don't what now?" she said, flinging open the curtains and noticing the breeze he kicked up when he blurred to the far side of the room, as far from the light as he could.

"The light...just don't."

"Clark? I thought when you called this morning you were okay. You, uh, sounded moody but I figured it was cause Jor-El didn't help you. But the cows...I don't think they've been fed or milked and Shelby's in my car freaking out. I thought Zor-El was here cause Shelby, no offense, is a great Kryptonian alarm, but he's not is he?"

Clark shook his head and his voice was low, hushed. "No."

"Clark," she said, shoving the rock into her pocket but not sheathing it. Based on Shelby's reaction and Clark's own to the remaining sunlight, she didn't think she needed to."

Chloe marked off the count in her head, knew when she'd crossed the threshold where Clark should have been screaming in pain from the Kryptonite in her pocket. Instead, he quirked his head at her, staring almost hungrily in her direction. "You have something."

She gulped, stopping where she was, still in plenty of space for the real Clark to have been coiled in on himself in pain if he had been before her. "You're the Phantom. The bizarre-Clark."

"I-"

"I should probably let you know now that I don't die like other humans do. It'd probably just save you time and me a trip to the morgue if you didn't snap my neck and just actually told me where Clark is."

The Phantom frowned and slipped his right hand out from under an afghan of Martha's it'd been holding. Despite herself, Chloe gasped. Clark had explained dealing with the Phantom that everything it was was his opposite-sunlight hurt him and that Kryptonite fueled him. He had not explained what sunlight did to hurt him.

Chloe watched as the Phantom hissed, the line of grey crystal moving up its arm as it reached toward her and through the growing dusk. "You have Kryptonite, don't you?"

"You have Clark's memories, that's how it works? Everything about him up until the day the dam imploded. I'm not a fool. I'm not going to give you what you need to get better. Now snap my neck or don't, tear my heart out or don't, but get the Hell out of his house because me and mine will hunt you down and find him. You have no idea who you're messing with."

"Chlo-"

She stepped back and he stilled. "No, I'm not stupid. I know who you are. I can't stop you. I can't do anything against you in about ten minutes because it'll be night time. But, at least," she replied, concentrating and letting the rose glow spread over her left palm, there's not much you can permanently do to me either."

The Phantom gasped. "I didn't know you could control it."

She frowned. Wait. This wasn't right. The Phantom tore hearts out and didn't ask questions. It didn't stay frozen in a tableau. When Clark had been at Reeves Dam, he didn't know she had a power that was active, just that she was a mutant. The Phantom shouldn't know what she had, let alone that it had activated.

Chloe, letting her mind put the pieces together for her, stilled. "Knox. Who was he?"

"What?"

"Tell me about Curtis Knox. How many year was I going to lose with the surgery?"

"What?"

"Tell me or I'll call for The Manhunter, so help me."

"I...six. He was going to take everything back to freshman year, but then he turned out to be a liar. I saved you." Clark must have realized the contrast then, of him huddled in the dark, his arm mostly stone, and the idea of him saving anyone currently and, embarrassed, he looked away.

"Oh god, Clark," she said and she was hugging him then, relieved when his left arm wrapped around her shoulders. "What happened?"

"I don't know. I mean, I know the shorthand."

"Jor-El," she spat, shoving the green K into his left hand. Clark flinched at first, automatically but then they both watched, eyes wide as it went from glowing to flat out shining an impossibly bright gold. Mouth agape, she watched as Clark's right arm grew normal again, supple and flesh-colored, and the stone receded.

Clark dropped the Kryptonite after and they looked down at it, now gone grey and inert.

Used up.

"He did this, didn't he?"

Clark looked between the Kryptonite and his arm, then back to the window where the sun had finally set. Saying nothing further, he slid to the floor. "Yes."

She knelt next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. She was afraid if she didn't keep contact with him that, now with the sun down, he'd run. "He made you like the Phantom? I...I'm confused. He got rid of your allergy to Kryptonite, right? I mean, sort of an asshole hold out if he could have done in all along, but how is making you stronger a punishment?"

Clark looked in her direction but not at her. His gaze was off, unfocused. "He took it."

"I don't understand, Clark. You're scaring me. What did Jor-El take?"

He made eye contact with her finally and her heart broke. "Everything."

They were in the loft together. Chloe was a crappy cook but she was excellent at making coffee. She'd put on a pot and after a bit coaxed Clark to take a few long gulps. He hadn't been hungry and she couldn't imagine he would be. Actually she wasn't sure how that worked for Clark. She knew he liked to eat, that he certainly did more than his fair share of it. But she also knew that Krytponians were supposed to be solar-powered. She assumed as he'd gotten older he ate out of habit and cause, well, Martha Kent was an amazing cook.

But she didn't...whatever Jor-El had done, Clark didn't run on sunlight anymore and he'd, in an odd way, just had a "meal" of Kryptonite to help him.

Clark sat on the steps and she flashed back to over two years ago, when he'd told her he'd made a horrible mistake, about the deal that would eventually cost his father his life. He wasn't talking, hadn't said anything in over an hour. Shelby sat to her left, shivering against her.

The old dog was scared, his teeth half bared even now at Clark.

It broke Chloe's heart. She'd have to take Shelby home to the Talon whether Lois had allergies or not. Now that he'd noticed the change in Clark, it scared him, and he wouldn't stay in the house. Shelby and Clark had been inseparable for three years, but now the dog knew something was off about his master, something far more alien than before, and it frightened him.

Absently, Clark reached out his hand to pet Shelby's head, pulling it fast back to his side as the retriever snapped at him. Nothing could hurt Clark, now, save for sunlight, but it'd do Shelby no good to shatter his jaw and his teeth.

"Shelby," she said, pushing against the old dog's flank. "Sofa."

He looked between them, gaze fixed on Clark.

"Shelby go, it's fine boy," she said, waiting for the dog to finally curl onto the couch. She forced herself to ignore how Clark was even more hunched over on himself when Shel finally got situated.

"He hates me."

"Clark, he's confused. He must have thought you were the Phantom."

"Shel's never met the Phantom."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Clark replied, looking at his right hand as if it held the answers to the mysteries of the universe. "I couldn't get out here before. I tried but it hurt so much, like I couldn't breathe. I feel a lot better now."

"How so?" she asked, forcing herself to treat it as an interview, more removed. She couldn't be upset for him here, not now. He was already in some weird state of shock.

"I dunno. I...it feels normal?"

"What?" she prodded. "I'm gonna need nouns."

He nodded and had the smallest bit of a smile on his lips. "Moonlight. I...it's weird cause it's not like I ever was hurt by it. So the reason I react to the sun-"

"So now that the sun set, you're feeling like normal?"

He nodded. "Yeah, even a lot of energy just sitting in the moonlight if you want to know the truth. I mean, the Kryptonite was amazing. I can't even explain how much energy I got from there. I've rarely felt anything like that, except times when I got my powers back like with Isobel. But, yeah, I...the moonlight feels like sunlight used to and the sunlight hurts."

"I think it might do more than hurt," she said, patting his back in long, wide circles.

"Like turn my arm to stone?"

"Or, well, your friendly Kryptonian equivalent," she offered, unsure of where to go with that.

"I...it's like I am the Phantom."

"You wanna rip hears out now?" she asked, snorting.

"No, I just it's like Jor-El flipped a switch and everything in my body's reversed. Sunlight's bad now. Green K feels amazing, I can't even..." he said, blushing. "I must be wrong, um, seem different. The horses are pretty freaked down there."

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded. "They both reared back to kick me when I could finally get out here to feed them. You were busy wrangling Shelby out of the car."

"Animals liked you before," she pointed out.

"Apparently not so much now?"

She frowned. It shouldn't make a difference how he operated now, so to speak. He'd never been human to start but apparently farm animals had a limit. They could deal with him when he at least was sunlight-friendly. The more nocturnal version was scaring all of the. "I..."

"This is really fucked up."

"Clark-"

He did move or pace as she expected him too. His voice didn't even rise, his tone flat. "I don't...I can't be a farmer. I mean that's my damn job , Chlo. It was my dad's job and my grandpa's. They built this place just for that. You can't fucking be a farmer if the animals try and kick you and you can't start until the sun sets."

She nodded. "I know."

"I'll have to sell what I have to the Hubbards, the herd and if Lana wants to keep Donatello and Tyson, she'll have to board them again and go to them. They'll hurt themselves if they keep trying to kick me or jump the stalls. I...Shelby can't stay either."

"No, I don't think he should. He'll either freeze hiding out here or break his teeth apart."

"On me."

She sighed. "We'll fix this. We'll just go to Jor-El and explain that-"

"I'm really sorry and could you just make me normal again? Right. Cause he's so reasonable."

"Well we could try," she replied honestly.

"No, he did this as one of those fucking learn a lesson things," Clark said, and she noticed him blink back heat vision.

"What did he want?"

"He said I was too human, that being so emotional even over Lara's clone made me vulnerable to Zor-El's plans. I figured he was just angry cause I'd delayed training and well, he's Jor-El. He's always angry. I said I'd come and train and do what he asked."

Her heart clenched. "What?"

"I...I had promised him I would when Kara first came. I went to start even, but he said I had to stay and watch her first."

"You were gonna leave last night?" Chloe asked, horrified, thinking of her best friend gone to train for months.

"No, I was going to come back after saying goodbye to you and mom and Lana. I made him a promise and now that he's stripped Lara and Kara of their memories and powers, shoved them off to God-knows-where, I had to keep it."

"So you meant to come home last night and say goodbye for a few months? Well, I mean, that makes sense. I would be able to deal until like May. If something evil were afoot, Ollie and Co. could take your slack or J'onn."

Clark stilled and looked down at her. Was it even her imagination? Were his eyes different too? Icier maybe? "Chlo, I'd have been gone at least a decade."

Chloe slapped him.

Chloe Sullivan, his best friend since he was shorter than she was, slapped him.

It obviously didn't hurt but he flinched when he heard her bones snap. "Chloe!"

She shook her head and again her right hand flared that brilliant color and soon was normal again. Even if he couldn't hear the bones knit back together, he could see them well enough under X-ray. It was almost instant.

"When did you learn to not die doing it?"

"Practice," she groused. "I can heal small things. I...uh, might have started practicing on myself, paper cuts and things."

"You hurt yourself to practice healing?" For the first time since his hand had turned to stone that morning, Clark was actually thinking of someone else's problem. It scared him. The thought she hadn't felt comfortable enough to come to him, that he'd been to busy with Lana and Kara's own drama to offer to be the power support-slash-bomb squad she needed.

"Paper cuts to start," she said stiffly, pulling away from him. "I don't self heal instantly. I have to make a conscious effort as far as I know. I mean, I worked my way up to bigger stuff. Gashes in my palm."

"That got there how?"

She blushed. "Research, doesn't matter how."

"Chloe! What if you couldn't heal it?"

"But I did. Lois twisted her ankle in a dumpster looking for some proof of a mayoral affair and I healed that while she slept. I couldn't walk for 12 hours but it worked. I...uh, took her concussion from her after she got back from the hospital."

"From Lana."

She nodded. "I'm fine."

"You didn't really know you could heal your hand when you slapped me, did you?"

"I was about 85%," she huffed. "You were gonna just leave? Go and screw Kara and Lara over and say goodbye to me until what? 2017? I..."

"I know I've needed the training since Zod came and then the phantoms. I have to be better, Chloe. I've let too many people die from stuff like Dark Thursday and what the phantoms did all over the world. They're my fault."

She nodded. "A decade? I can't believe that's necessary! You do so much every fucking day. I know we have the League and J'onn packs a huge, huge wallop, but we need you!"

"It's moot. Jor-El deemed me 'not ready,'" he said, sighing. "Chloe, I'd never go somewhere for ten years and never say goodbye, do you understand? You're my best friend and the best, um, well sidekick sounds patronizing."

"Brains-behind-the-operation," she offered, sniffling a little.

"Maybe. I wouldn't want to go, but if it stops Zod if he ever escaped again or something like the Bizarre Version of me, then, yeah, I needed to go."

"Or you thought you did?"

"Jor-El said I wasn't ready yet and even if I waited a year or ten, I was 'too close' to humans."

"So his plan was to what? Bela Lugosi you?"

He frowned. Chloe didn't always make sense to him. Yeah, he got it. He wasn't great with pop culture. He certainly hand't really known anything about Rachel Davenport or her fame even if Google later told him she was the top earning actress in Hollywood. He wasn't alien or Amish, exactly, just super busy. He did keep up with the important stuff of course, like Sharks facts. He just wasn't a repository of pop culture inanities like a certain blonde reporter.

"Bela Lugosi? Really, Clark? Universal? 1930s? All that stuff?"

"Um, is that important?"

She sighed. "Dracula?" Then her eyes widened, when she realized her normal annoyance with his lack of movie knowledge and her flippancy wasn't really appropriate right now. "Oh god, I shouldn't have even."

Clark stilled, forced his breathing to be even. "What did you just say?"

"I...it was...it's not a perfect analogy. I guess I should have just said 'so Jor-El's plan was to make you like the Phantom.' I know you're not going out to like drink blood or something."

Ugh, Clark shivered at that and hoped no one gave his even more fucked up than usual body ideas. "But I can't go out in the sunlight anymore and it does hurt me, even if not what? Ash?"

"False analogy in the original Stoker novel, just took his powers, but he could walk in it. Hollywood has run more with the to-dust angle. I just...it was a fast analogy but it wasn't fair. I...it was mean. You're not a monster."

Clark laughed and he knew it wasn't pleasant, was probably not but so coherent even. "I don't know about that. I'm invulnerable, strong, have heat vision, come from another freaking galaxy, and can't go out in daylight without basically turning to stone. I'm not exactly normal either."

"Well except for the daylight part and stone, you were strong and had heat vision before!"

He nodded and slumped his shoulders. "So like an alien vampire?"

"I never ever should have said a word. I'm an asshole. I was being usual me and not thinking about what I was saying."

"Sullivan-Lane trait. Chloe, it did occur to me. The same vampire thought. Not that Bela woman-"

"Man, Bela...he's Romanian."

"Oh."

"Right."

And cue awkward silence. "Yeah, I just, I was sitting there, huddled in a corner waiting for sunset only half hoping that Green K could fix my arm and it did cross my mind how fucked up everything was."

"Clark-"

"That's what Jor-El wanted. He wanted me to cut ties with what I had left in human life. Think about it Chlo, what he did doesn't change what he wants, not at all. I can still do training. I can still, I hope this is what he wants, save people after that at night. Hell, you're right too, from sunset to sunrise there's nothing, not even Kryptonite now that could harm me."

"Maybe magic."

"Well, yeah, that," he conceded. "But Green K's always been so much of an issue for me here in Smallville. I...nothing he did changes my ability to do what he wants from me."

"But you can't be a farmer. You can't have a pet, odd wrinkle. You can't go anywhere before the sun sets."

"Not if I don't want intense pain and to turn to stone, no."

"Maybe you'd just spite him by turning into a Lex Luthor of Old style club kid."

Clark snorted but eased a little at her joke. "Not likely. The life I wanted...I wanted to be a farmer. I mean, I once thought I'd work at the DP maybe, especially my last year at The Torch. I thought I'd be more like you and Lois, but then dad died and I want to keep the Kent legacy alive. I almost ruined it."

"Clark-"

"But I can't do either , can I?"

"Well you could work pet obit and tipline on the night shift for the DP," Chloe offered.

"Stories break most often during the day. In theory reporters get some sleep at night."

"In theory."

"Farms are daylight by their very nature, you know that."

She nodded. "And you can't...when your mom runs for re-election next November, you won't be able to help her on the road or anything, not during the day. No one can ever see you during the day again, except Justice, me, Lana, and your mom."

He swallowed and it burned all the way down. "No farm, no chance for the job I thought I'd try for after training, no seeing mom except at night and discretely. Hell, I can't even go to DC that often cause I'm supposed to be able to fake plausibly having taken a paid-for-flight."

"Just lie and say you love red-eyes now," Chloe offered weakly.

"He took it, Chlo. He took the jobs I'd have wanted. He took my chance to meet other people. I mean even people who work night jobs have day plans and get together times. I can't go anywhere twelve hours a day. I mean, yeah, I could probably grab enough Green K if I had to, to get me through a threat during the day. Lord knows the Phantom tried that. I could go some place and stay in a basement where there's no natural light. I just...what am I supposed to do?"

"We'll go to the Fortress. We'll just-"

"I can't take you. You coming would prove that I'm not even attempting to be less human."

"Why Jor-El's so in love with that as a life plan, I'll never know," she huffed. "Clark, we'll just beg him to stop this madness. I mean, you've fixed punishments before!"

"Sometimes months after the fact, yeah, but sometimes they're like my dad was. What if being whatever is permanent?"

She blinked. "Jor-El's stubborn and an ass, but I think he can change you back."

"Yeah, just like he probably could have resurrected my dad, but he didn't do it, will never do it even now."

"But you have to go anyway. Look, I'll follow as far as the cave main chamber, not even the stone altar stuff, you know? You have to ask him."

He sighed and looked down at her, her clenched jaw and her narrowed eyes. He had this odd vision of Chloe taking a baseball bat to the main console of the fortress for all the good it'd do against it. She was more than pissed enough to do so. Despite the amazing crap pile his life had turned into in the last forty-eight hours, between his missing family and his biological makeover, he felt better. He liked having Chloe watch his back. If he'd listened to her and not gone at all, just used ISIS and the League to find his mom and cousin, then he'd still be him.

Yeah, she was definitely the brains behind this.

"I'll ask, Chlo, I promise."

"Good, now take me along for the ride."

Clark blurred into reality in front of her, shaking his head. "He cut me off."

"Well, yeah, that's why you had to run to the Fortress when the key didn't open the portal anymore."

Clark shook his head. "No, I mean he blocked the Fortress. I can't get any closer to it than about five hundred yards. It's like a force field's blocking it. I tried a few things..."

"Like running directly into it cause your t-shirt looks sort of crispy."

Clark nodded and she sighed. "Yeah, he's not talking to me. No portal, no Fortress access. I assume he'll summon me for training when he figures I've become 'Kryptonian' enough."

"You mean become an emotionless asshole like the AI or the Zor-El clone or Zod's people."

Clark nodded. "Raya swore that the real Jor-El wasn't like this. Lara and Kara have emotions, and Raya loved it here. I have no idea why the AI is so messed up that it wants me essentially a robot, but, yeah. I don't think it's going to be talking to me any time soon, no."

"Then we'll just go to Oliver. He's got doctors who can maybe-"

Clark sighed and it blew enough wind to ruffle her hair. "They were poached by Lex's before. His security over the serum was complete crap. Besides, I don't want anyone to know."

"About what happened? Clark, if Ollie needs stuff from you, he's gonna need to know why one of our biggest hitters can't work the day shift anymore."

He shook his head. "No, I don't want the others to know I'm not human, okay?"

She blinked. Surely he'd...well, actually, now that she thought about it, she didn't think he'd told any of them, even Bart, that he was actually a Kryptonian. She wasn't sure what they assumed he was, probably the winner in the Smallville meteor mutant lottery. It just struck her that, if what Jor-El had said he'd done to Kara was right, then only she, Martha, Lana, Lionel and J'onn knew who Clark really was.

"You never told them?"

"Do they know you've had an upgrade?" he asked, gesturing to her hands.

She shook her head. "I think Bart suspects. He is a bit bad on boundaries. He drops by the DP sometimes to take me to lunch." She frowned when Clark's fists clenched. Jealousy was not her friend's style, at least not over her.

"He does?"

"Well since he heard from the grapevine somehow I was single again. He's nice and we do the friends getting tacos thing, but it's not dating or whatever. I...we were eating. He burned the roof of his mouth on an enchilada and I tried to give him a subtle fix. I still think he noticed a glow. But, no, I don't want them to know I'm infected."

"Because?"

"I could go insane? Why don't you want them to know you're Kryptonian? I mean A.C.'s Atlantean so it's not like he was ever human either."

Clark sighed and looked at his boots. "I just...it makes it weird when people know. I think the guys would be okay, maybe a lot of stupid crop circle jokes."

"Or probing," she quipped.

"Yeah, that. Oliver's human...they don't get it very often."

"I got it."

He nodded. "You and mom are my bright spots," he said, sighing.

She forced herself to smile. "And Lana. She loves you a lot."

"She abducted and tortured Lionel who, technically, is still my Oracle, and almost beat me to death with my own powers. I think taking a break is at least a healthy step for us for once. I'm not sure I want to try loving someone who'd use my abilities to try murdering not just me or even Lex but Lois."

"Thanks?"

"You know what I mean. I mean Lois isn't my friend but she's like family by now and Lana could have seriously killed her. I...I know my powers aren't like that. Lex and dad both had them and tried to do or did do good things with them. I just...I hate telling people cause it usually ends up at best like with Pete and them leaving town when they can't take it."

She nodded but didn't press. She knew more had happened with him and Pete than even he'd ever said, but her emails to Pete had never uncovered the rest. He'd always changed the subject back to his life on the road now with One Republic , and, truth be told, talked as little about Clark as possible.

"Okay, so League's a no. Jor-El's not gonna help us. What about J'onn or Lionel? I mean I know they technically-"

"Work for Jor-El and follow his wishes over mine? Stuff like that?" Clark asked bitterly.

"Lionel might be able to right? I mean, he technically brought you back with all that Oracle mojo back after you were shot."

"Jor-El used him to do it. Without Jor-El pulling the strings, he doesn't have that kind of power."

Chloe shook her head and started to pace. "I refuse this."

"You refuse what?" Clark asked, his voice tired and small.

"You're basically saying that Jor-El screwed you over twice between shoving Kara and Lara off to who knows where and then flipping you from AC to DC. You're just gonna go with it?"

"No, but there's nothing I can do. Jor-El cut me off and J'onn and Lionel work for him . That just leaves Ollie's easy to buy off staff and if I did consent to be lab ratted for Queen Industries, there's no guarantee one of Lex's people couldn't buy out the information and screw me over even worse than I already am now."

"Talk to Oliver, at least. It's been a year since the serum. Maybe he got all the rats out of the research facilities. I mean, Bart and Victor and A.C. have to have medical care from somewhere safe."

"Then they'll know," he hissed.

"That you're Kryptonian, uh-huh. Not so bad. Like I said, we don't hold being a fish stick against A.C., much."

"I can't."

"I can," she said, pulling out her phone and pressing speed dial #4, just below her editor but above Lana. (Clark was #1 even if it was redundant with his hearing and Lois was #2.) "Ollie, you need to get to Metropolis tomorrow night."

"Sidekick, nice to hear you too," Star City's most eligible drawled. "What's up?"

Clark stood there, mouth wide open. "Chlo? Are you serious?"

She sighed. "It's Boy Scout. He's sick."

They didn't say anything for a while. He sped her to the farm and then she packed up all of Shelby's favorite toys, treats, and accouterments, driving him to the Talon while Clark ran behind, not trusting Shelby to panic and seriously injure himself if he road in the car with him.

They were sitting on her sofa and Clark was working very hard to ignore how Shelby was huddled whimpering under her bed. He knew that Shelby loved him or, well, had at least. It was just whatever had happened to Clark was setting off every fear instinct the old golden had. Clark didn't blame him. Hell, he blamed himself for being stupid enough to try begging Jor-El for help and also for being so fucked up in the first place.

He wondered if the AI knew that switching things would make animals hate him. Somehow, Clark thought the Fortress had.

"I said I didn't want Oliver and the others to know."

"You're missing your...um, Lara and Kara. You're not going to be able to handle any threats that come during the day and we both know Lex has government contracts with Scion in order to hunt down aliens, and we have to fix this."

"Lex couldn't hurt me now. I mean, if we happen to run into each other at night," he huffed.

"Clark, we need to fix this and we need back up."

"And since when were you and Oliver so tight?"

She rolled her eyes. "Please. Everyone has a job for the League. I consult as Watchtower sometimes, if Victor needs extra hacking help."

"You never told me."

"I'm part of this. It's not much, yet, but I think what Justice can do is really great. And we can only reach that potential being honest with each other and with you at full strength andKara back and at full strength."

"So I have to tell them my secrets but you won't tell them yours?"

She paled. "My power's useless. I've graduated to paper cuts and concussions. It's not like strength or speed or, um, talking to dolphins."

"You brought Lois back from the dead."

"Fluke thing, not repeatable," she said, her teeth grinding. "Clark...please don't make me tell them."

"Fine, but I'm not telling anyone but Oliver what I am, okay? He's the one who has to pay for whatever might come up and will probs end up seeing the reports, but I just want them to think I'm, you know..."

"Normal," she said, quietly. "What does it say about us that we don't want even our friends with powers to know too much about our powers ?"

"Rabid insecurity," he replied. "I don't need to League to unburden myself too. I have you."

"Thanks."

"I mean it. You're the best. There's nothing sharing the endless Kryptonian bullshit with A.C or Oliver is gonna do to make me feel any better. I...when you listen at least for five seconds it doesn't seem as bad."

"I just want to be normal, Clark."

"Because it's killing you."

She nodded. "Or it'll drive me insane."

"No, this won't," he said, pulling her tight to his side. "You seem to have had this active for almost eight months and healing the occasional burned mouth hasn't made you-"

"Like mom?"

"Yeah. I just...I get it. Some things don't have to be spread, and I do want to feel as normal as I can with other people."

"Just want to have a special freak club with me?" she asked, her tone harsh and he knew she meant it was about her powers and not the recent alteration in his own.

He nodded and kissed the crown of her head, vaguely aware he'd never do that with Pete or any Justice Bro. "I don't feel like a freak with you, Chloe. Even sitting there in my living room, scared out of my mind about what's happening to me, even with my arm half frozen, I don't feel like a freak with you."

"Why?"

"Calling people I don't want aside, you're my friend."

She nodded and he thought he heard her sniffle. "Always, Clark. I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"If I knew how to fix you, I would. But I don't think whatever Jor-El did counts as an injury. I'm pretty sure whole rerouting of DNA is beyond me."

He shrugged and forced himself to be falsely cheerful. "I'm sure that Oliver's doctors can figure something else. I mean, if not. It's not so bad, is it?"

"You're still here, not brainwashed or hurt or in active pain. No, it's not so bad," she answered softly, her hand clutching his.

"I hate my father," he said, yawning a little, noticing it was somehow already past two and that Lois must have been over at Grant's again.

She nodded and burrowed even more into his side as unconsciousness crept over him. "I hate him too."

Chloe woke to screaming.

Blinking, she hopped of the sofa and ran to the curtains of her kitchenette. She'd fallen asleep on the sofa with Clark last night and had forgotten to draw the drapes. It was six a.m. and the sun's first rays were poking through the window, causing Clark to scream in agony from the contact of the light.

She slammed them shut and started rustling through her drawers, looking for the small lead box she kept there too. She loved Clark, trusted him with her life, but she didn't trust the others, and she wasn't so stupid not to prepare for mindwhammies or magic. It was fortunate for him that she did. Pulling out the green K (and she'd have to collect more until they adjusted to his new needs), she rushed back to the sofa and stopped.

"Clark?"

His head was in his hands, most of his left hand a crystallized grey. She could tell from the way he was holding himself that the bulk of the sun had struck his face, that he didn't want her to see.

"Clark, it's okay. I have some more green K. I'll start keeping a whole stash for you, alright? It'll feel weird but we'll just get better about the sunlight thing. It's only been a day. I should have shut my blinds. I would have if I hadn't been so tired.

"I..." and his voice was gruff, distorted, probably from the way his throat was partially stone.

She sighed and slipped the rock into her pocket. Reaching out, she stroked his cheek, marveling at the way it felt-smooth like ice, yet warm, moving just a bit as he breathed. "Look at me."

"Chlo, I can't."

She nodded and concentrated, letting her glow spread over her, not just her hand and arm, but over her entire body. She couldn't fix him, knew instinctively what Jor-El had done was not something she could change. She just wanted him to understand that she was like him.

Not exactly, but far from normal anymore or even capable of passing for it for those who were really paying attention.

Despite himself, Clark was gaping up at her now, the grey crystal of his face illuminated by her own light. Chloe forced herself not to cry, forced herself not to even think this was the closest to being near light Clark could ever go again. Oliver would fix it. If he couldn't find a way with his doctors, then she'd find something, damn it.

"See, knew you could. Told you we were weird together. We just sort of upped our quotient from like a year ago."

"By a lot."

"We boldly went where no one had gone before in Weirdom," she said, forcing herself to giggle. Slipping her hand into her pocket Chloe, pulled out the Kryptonite and brought it to Clark's chest, fascinated by the way it shone brighter than even she could now and at the way Clark shivered as its energy lanced through him, healing his wounds.

It was unreal.

Vaguely, some part of her mind registered Clark shudder and moan her name in a way hedefinitely would never have said Pete's. If Green K had brought him pain before, she now had the sinking suspicion what he felt from it now was almost orgasmic.

Clark shuddered again as his skin healed and his eyes went red.

Scratch that.

Definitely orgasmic.

Chloe had no idea why she wanted to suddenly gather up every rock throughout the county. It wasn't appropriate or right, and Lana was only one of a million reasons why it wasn't. The green K finally grew inert, dark and permanently used up and its light abated. Chloe kept hers steady, waiting as her Clark, normal skinned and all, looked back at her. "Feeling better?"

He nodded and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse and throaty. "Yeah, I...oh definitely."

Despite herself she blushed and dropped the rock to the floor, finally cutting her own light show. "Good," she said, sitting down in the chair across from him.

"I...thank you."

"Why? I had the green K around. You should be mad at me, you know? I forgot the curtains!"

"No, because you didn't get scared of me."

"I just lit up the Talon without a generator," she replied, shrugging. "I could say the same thing."

He nodded again and picked up the now no longer irradiated meteor rock. "I'm sorry you know."

"I'm really confused."

He tossed the Kryptonite to her and she caught it, letting it settle on her lap. "That my fucking planet did that to you."

"Well, I'm sorry that Jor-El did this to you so we're even."

"I..."

"What?" she asked, quirking her head at him. "Go on."

"I'm glad that I told you. Sometimes, I wish I'd told you instead of Pete in high school."

She shook her head. "I wasn't ready yet. I wouldn't have sold you to the DP or Lionel or anything, but I just wasn't ready yet. I found out when I needed to, and we make a great team."

"Weird team."

"Olympically weird team," she corrected. "But a good one. I...we're going to figure this out, Clark."

"Maybe it's supposed to be this way. I'd still rather this than just be brainwashed into Kal-El the alien conqueror crap. I...I can be this, if it means I'm still too human for the AI. I'd trade anything other than my humanity, do you understand that?"

"I know, Clark, and that's why I know this can't last."

"Because Jor-El will get bored?"

"No," she said, leaning forward and squeezing his hand. "Because of what you just said. I...if anyone was made for the light, Clark, it was you.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reverse 3**

Clark sat there for a while, looking at the curtains. His life had never made any sense. Rocks left his blood boiling, things that most of Smallville passed by every day without a thought. Now the only thing keeping him from utter agony were some cheap pieces of cloth from the Wal-Mart in Granville. Weird, yet true. As long as it was just shadowy or indirect sunlight, Clark was fine. Between what had happened to his right arm yesterday morning and mainly his face not two hours ago, both he and Chloe were more than certain that direct light?

Not a good idea.

Crippling really. It burned like Green K once had, not quite as painful as that, at least his blood didn't boil. However, the overall effect was more debilitating because even if it didn't hurt as much as Kryptonite once had-and that was a relative scale-between the pain and the crystallization of his skin, the sun left him impossibly weak.

Chloe had gone downstairs to first grab him some clothes from his farm and to also place a call to Lois to let her floor editor know she had the stomach flu and might not be in for a couple days. Clark knew it didn't take her two hours to go to the farm, grab flannel from his abundant supply, and come back. He figured she was giving him some time to recover from this morning. It was nice.

Physically, he felt fine. He blushed. More than fine. The Kryptonite felt as amazing as it ever had awful now. It was almost embarrassing how badly he wished Chloe kept more around her apartment. Emotionally?

He was a total mess.

He felt so incredibly stupid. He knew he couldn't trust Jor-El. The Fortress did have a point about him being foolish and running off half-cocked. That said, he shouldn't have to worry about the Fortress, the technology supposedly sent here to help him, fucking up his entire body. Worse, he felt just...Christ it was sunlight. It was supposed to be good for pretty much all beings right? Minus people who wandered into the desert, of course. It had once been everything to him, something he had't realized he'd miss, that subtle thrum of power coursing through him during the day.

It didn't hurt where he was her in the darkened Talon. He could still bench press a tractor if he felt the need to, no powers blunted. It still just felt wrong. Clark sighed and looked under Lois's bed, where Shelby had finally passed out. The old dog could no longer keep his guard up. Sunlight was a good thing. People-except those on third shift or seedy night jobs-were up in the day. Plants grew then, animals were mainly awake. It was just basic stuff, especially for a farm kid, even one who slept in when given the chance.

It didn't make you scream or turn to stone.

Clark sighed and then cursed when he caused some of Chloe's notes to flutter off her kitchen table. Stupid fucking powers. Standing up, he ignored the old golden's growls as he scooped up her files and placed them neatly back where they'd lain. "God, Shel, I have to give Jor-El credit; he really is a creative sadistic asshole. Makes a guy thrilled to be Kryptonian."

Chloe snorted behind him. "He's tyrant. I say, if you ever get access back, you upload the biggest virus there. Go all Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum on him."

He blinked. "Huh?"

She sighed and shut the door behind her. He noticed she was weighed down with a carry out box from the diner down the street and a garbage bag in the other, presumably with his change of clothes. He walked over to her and took the diner's take out from her, still shaking his head when Shel stayed firmly planted under the bed, his growls a constant background noise.

"Shel, hush," Chloe snapped. "I'm fine. It's just Clark!"

Clark snorted and started pulling out the styrofoam containers. "In a manner of speaking. So I do what now?"

" Independence Day ? Come on that's a classic!"

"Off limits," he replied. "Mom and dad had a no alien movies rule when I was a kid. After I found out, well, I wasn't that inclined to catch up on what I'd missed."

"So not even like Lilo and Stitch ?"

"Nope," he replied, forcing his tone to stay light. "Still, you and Victor are more than welcome to give Jor-El a cold. See how he likes it, ugh." He quirked his head at the box he'd opened, at the fluffy Belgium waffles with extra cherries and whipped cream. "Chloe?"

She walked over and picked up the box. "That's mine. You got the one with stewed apples. It's a Sullivan thing. Waffles make stuff less shitty."

Slumping down into his chair, Clark waited for Chloe to join him. "Yeah, this'll help."

"There's powdered sugar too?"

He shrugged and started eating, admitting that it was very good. "Okay, a little better. I mean I can't go anywhere for what? Another nine hours?"

"You're lucky Jor-El pulled this stupid stunt in the run up to Winter Solstice. This would suck even harder in June."

"Yeah, he's so amazing," Clark groused. "I feel sort of useless. The cows are going to need to be milked again cause that's a daily thing. I...we'll have to look into hands for a while. I just..."

Chloe offered him a forced smile. "You could always use a vacation day or two. We'll call the Hubbards and see if they have recommendations for hands to hire part time. I'm sure we can get the cows squared away with consistent milking by tomorrow. Oliver's got a ton of doctors too. This might not even take that much time, really."

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Really now?"

"Okay couple weeks?"

"Uh-huh."

"A month tops. You'll just have to deal with less farm chores. Sleep in, enjoy daytime television. I'm sure you can pass time between sun-up and sun down."

He rolled his eyes but kept eating his waffles. They were excellent. "My whole life just got ten times weirder and that's saying a lot."

"I know," she said, frowning back at Shelby. "I do get that, but on the bright side, um, wait-"

"On the good side," he amended.

"Yeah, no more Green K pain. In this town, that's probably the best thing not to be allergic to anymore."

He gulped and forced his heat vision down. The Kryptonite was amazing. He was seriously tempted once night fell to collect a bucket load of it. Obviously that side effect was not something Jor-El had considered because, really, his "father" specialized in punishments that had no side benefits.

"No agreed."

"Yup."

He didn't say much for a while, just finished his breakfast and then helped clear the table. Chloe was actually kind enough to go to the bathroom for a minute while he speed changed clothes. She was smaller and the bathroom wasn't tiny or anything, but it was just not as easy to blur his stuff on and off if he was worried about hitting his head on the ceiling or something. When she got back out, he'd also started to pack up her laptop and other things.

She frowned. "We're going somewhere?"

He nodded. "I was thinking about it. You can pull your car into the alley spot anyway and it's shaded. I'll grab Lois's comforter and just sort of pretzel up in the back seat."

Chloe sighed. "We have another-"

"I was aware, but I don't really want to be here when Lois gets home from work and I also had something I needed to do."

"Turn to stone?"

"Actually, yeah."

Chloe was not amused. She was sitting on a bale of hay on the main floor of the barn. It hadn't been impossible to get Clark from her apartment to the barn. He'd complained a bit about the tight fit in her compact, but it was his plan after all and it wasn't like he could have his limbs actually fall asleep on him or cramp. Getting into the barn had been a little trickier. She considered pulling up close and letting him sort of run for it, blanket and all, but a barn was a barn, she just pulled in to the wide berth. It wasn't like her car was that much bigger than a tractor.

"Clark, I wasn't serious. I just...yeah we can figure out the opposite game on our own. Green K fuels you now. Feels, um, well not bad."

"Right," and he was blushing so hard she almost giggled.

"So I'm gonna guess that red will make you incredibly depressed and blue would supe you up. Black would what? Double you?"

"No clue. I, uh, wasn't really gonna try that one. It's a pain in the ass and we only kept the sample in case of more Kal-El brainwashing."

"Well you never know," she conceded, looking at the old class ring and Jor-El (the real one's) ring he'd gotten from Lara. The black K was still in its lead box in his desk. The red and blue kinds had to touch his skin. "I don't think you need to test them to know."

Clark sighed and sat on the steps, the last lead box that he knew anything about clamped shut in his hands. Chloe was sure Martha had some in her room but just had never told Clark where in deference to him. It wasn't that they wanted to keep the rocks around; magic and mind control had happened just too many times to them.

"Probably not. I still don't know what the opposite of unpowered is exactly. I just know that the last time it got stuck so if it's supercharged, probably best not to go up to 11 and be stuck that way too."

She nodded and scooped the jewelry back into her box with the black K. "And you have the green because?" She smirked just a little. "Do you two need to be alone?"

"Chlo!" he shouted but she could tell he wasn't quite as put off by the joke as he could have been. The slight lick lip and guilty glance at his lap were a clue. "No, I just. The Phantom flew off even if it was daylight. I don't think he got very far based on what he did a few miles out at the power station, but he could get out and deal a little with the sun."

"So?"

He held up the box. "I need to see how far this goes. I...can I take it at all? I mean if I go all stoney, can I keep making myself move enough to function a bit? Hell, if I carried around some Green K outside would in break even? I mean, if I just have to carry some around during the daylight and voila, that'd be a big thing to know."

She paused and bit her lip. "I don't think it works that way."

"The Phantom was here less than a day. How do we know? I mean if the green K can keep me normal enough to do my chores and be outside until Ollie fixes me, it'd be worth one experiment. I mean, if it didn't work, then I just get enough to fix me up and blur back in here til sunset.

"You could be hurt."

"It doesn't last. I just need to know. Any time I get a new ability, I have to practice."

"This isn't exactly new."

"It's a flip. I need to see where my limits with sunlight are, Chlo."

She nodded and, walking over, took the box from him. "Okay, you can try, alright?" She opened the lid and pulled out one of the smaller pieces inside and handed it to him. "I've got the main stash. If this 'just a sliver' plan doesn't work."

He nodded and grabbed the sliver to his hand, already it was growing brighter, feeding into him. Clark didn't spare her a glance as he walked into the sunlight outside the barn. Trotting after him, Chloe watched, at first hopeful. The green K hummed and glowed brilliantly and, although Clark's steps were slow and labored, clearly painful, he still looked like himself. It wasn't optimal but if he felt he needed to go out at least on the farm to keep from going stir crazy, it would technically have been possible.

The light show would have freaked out any person or animal who saw him, but he might be able to get some fresh air if he needed it.

Except, the Kryptonite couldn't sustain, was eventually drained dry by him. Inert and grey, it fell from Clark's hand as he dropped to his knees, the crystals climbing over his face and hands, she assumed it was already up and down his body where his clothes covered as well. Rushing forward, Chloe started to undo the clasp on her box but was stopped by Clark shaking his head, his neck and face a mess of jagged grey crystals, barely recognizable.

"Chloe, wait," he panted. "I can do this. Damn it, the Phantom could fly in this."

"Not very far! And it just made itself a body. It didn't seem to do well in sunlight at all. You can't even move!"

Clark glared at her, his eyes black. Groaning he stood up and she winced and the way his limbs cracked with the effort. "I can do it." She watched then, the green K in her hand, as he took stumbled slowly toward the farmhouse, collapsing halfway when his right knee locked and would no longer bend.

She was there then, whether he wanted to keep testing himself or not. Laying a hand on his cheek, still amazed at how warm and frictionless the crystal that had been Clark's skin still was, Chloe, pressed the Kryptonite to his chest. "It's okay? You tried. Just...let me get you back in the house."

Clark wasn't looking at her, had shut his eyes the minute she'd touched him and was shuddering now, moaning a little and Chloe would think about what the green K was doing later. She didn't even care if it actively sucked him off, if it could get him well enough to get in the house. He could not stay here, even under a blanket, for the next six hours. The light flared from the rock and she turned away, only returning her gaze when the light had almost faded to nothing and the hum of the Kryptonite was barely audible.

She let out a breath when her friend was himself again. "Ugh."

"Can you speed?"

He shook his head. "I can stand...uh...I don't think it's gonna hold for long. Can you just get under my side and help me to the kitchen?"

She nodded and gathered him up as best she could, grateful he could move. She didn't have a prayer of really getting two hundred plus pounds of Kryptonian to go anywhere. "Sure, just, can I say I told you so?"

Chloe talked.

She talked a lot.

This was something he'd always known about her, a Chloe Sullivan hallmark. But she was talking a lot and had been for the last four hours. It didn't even matter what she was talking about. Just that she kept talking. She was sitting in his Grandpa Hiram's rocker, rambling about something on The Real World , behind the scenes drama that Lois had found first from an old Inquisitor friend. Just a mindless rhythm. Occasionally, he'd nod or offer a forced laugh, just to make it less of a monologue. Idly, he wondered if her power made breathing just optional for her because he wasn't sure when she'd had time to slow down for one.

He sighed and leaned back on the sofa. Clark appreciated what she was doing. Really he did. She was trying to distract him any way she knew how, as inane as MTV was, just so he wouldn't be focusing on the big fucking disaster his sun light experiment had been. So, he kept nodding and smiling and occasionally even groaning while she talked about things neither of them cared about.

Eventually, the sun began to go down. Even if he hadn't seen the clock reading 4:30 over the mantle or the gradually darkening room, he'd have known. He could feel the inertia the risen sun left in him now lifting, the bit of electrical thrill building in him as it grew closer to moonlight.

Oddly, except during the solar flares, he'd never been this in tune with what the sun could do to him. He wasn't sure if it was just the flip in his biology that had done it. Obviously, he knew when it hurt but he knew more subtle things now. Perhaps he'd not noticed these ebbs and flows in his energy during the day because he'd never looked for them.

"God, soon I can at least leave the house."

Chloe stopped in mid-rant about what he figured was Road Rules now. "Clark, I..."

He nodded. "No you definitely told me so. I never should have tried the experiment. I was just hoping I wouldn't be stuck quite as badly. I...it's not good. It hurts like hell, sure, but after about five minutes, I literally can't move anymore, like being frozen."

"Yeah," she finished, clicking off the TV and tossing the remote to the couch. "Promise me you won't try anything that stupid again, okay?"

He nodded and stretched out his right leg, frowning a little when his knee cracked. Huh, he'd never done that before. It was a big twenty-four hours for firsts. "Still a little sore, but much better. I think once the moon's up, I'll be definitely 100%."

"Clark-"

"Fine, I promise. I won't do any more tests. I just thought I could make it better."

Chloe stood up and put a hand on his shoulder; he let her. "Obviously you can't jerry rig it. Hey, Ollie said he'd be in the Clocktower at about seven. You want to milk the cows...wait can you?"

"Yeah, they're not thrilled with me either but they hurt so bad if they're not milked that they really need the machine. I could be Hitler and they'd probably not care."

"Oh."

"Yeah, I mean, they'll be skittish, but I'll get to that in a few."

She nodded and smiled. He hated that expression a lot, especially when her eyes were slightly shiny. He knew she was trying to put on a brave spin for him, but there wasn't anything good here, not at all.

"Great, then the Smallville Shuttle can get me to Metropolis and we can grab a pizza on Federico's on Ninth. I'll even go in for anchovies and pineapple on half of it like you like."

"Really?"

"Um, no. I'll pay for one large like that just for you though, my treat."

Standing, he gathered up a few things he'd need for milking and headed to door, already knowing the sun was gone. "I'd like that. Hell, I'll save you a slice."

"You're a prince among men, Clark."

"Of course."

Chloe always marveled at the Clocktower set up. The hardware was seriously amazing and she was hoping for Christmas her ersatz boss would get her a Queen Industries special for her laptop upgrade. She was about to reach over and give Oliver a polite handshake when a quick breeze kicked up and she found herself being hugged by almost five and a half feet of speedster instead.

"Chloerita! What's up?"

She grinned as she pulled away from Bart, careful to avoid being goosed. "Not much. Hey, I have half my pizza left. You want some?"

"Any meat on it?"

"Extra pepperoni," she replied, winking.

He gave her a peck on the check and blurred past Clark, taking the pizza box from his hands. "You, Chloelicious, are awesome. While I'm officially in town, do you want to do Mexican at the regular place tomorrow?"

She sighed and frowned a little at Clark glaring at Bart. It was probably one of those stupid "my power is better than yours" pissing contest her boys all got into. (Poor A.C. never won. No one wanted to be able to talk to starfish.) Anything else from Clark would be beyond bizarre, even by their loose standards.

"It depends on how Clark's feeling. If he has to be doing more tests with Oliver's Dr., um-"

"Emil Hamilton," the billionaire supplied. "We just call him Emil."

She nodded. "Right, it depends on what Emil can tell us."

Bart set his pizza down in the kitchen. "That stuff that even though Victor, A.C. and I are here for, you're not gonna tell us?"

Clark frowned and looked to her for a second before answering. "It's kind of embarrassing."

Bart snickered. "Wait so it's like a that kind of problem?"

"That kind?" Oliver asked.

"You know, like the clap?"

Chloe shook her head. "Bart, go split that with Victor. It's an allergy, not I don't even know what."

"Just saying," he said. "Met Lana. I'd not be surprised." With that, he was gone and she half expected a cloud of dust to still be there like with the roadrunner.

Oliver chuckled a little. "That's actually pretty funny."

Clark shook his head and sat on the sofa. "It's not that type of problem. This is exactly why I didn't want to come here. No one can take this seriously."

"You like making Tin Man and Splash jokes," Oliver reminded. "We all take our turn. I never hear the end about my costume."

Chloe smirked and sat down next to her best friend. "Cod piece, Ollie. Compensation much?"

Clark took his turn to snicker and Oliver went a bit purple. "No, accurate. I bet Lois would-"

"Alright this just stopped being funny," Clark answered. "I...Dr. Emil's coming?"

Ollie nodded and poured himself a decanter of Scotch. "Chloe explained in an email last night that it's a UV allergy?"

Clark sighed and looked down at his lap. "Basically. I'm not processing sunlight the way I'm supposed to."

"There's a supposed to?" Oliver asked.

"Clark's abilities come because of how he reacts to sunlight. Usually, it makes him really strong. Right now, it's having a reverse effect, hurting him."

"So you don't have your abilities?"

Clark shook his head. "No I'm fine. As long as I'm out of the sun, all the speed and strength and heat vision does what it's supposed to."

"Okay," Oliver said, taking a sip. "Why do I have a feeling I'm getting the Cliff's Notes for this?"

She sighed and slid her hand into Clark's, ignoring the odd look Oliver shot her. "Do you want to explain it or should I?"

Clark's grip on her hand tightened just a little. "No, I got this. Ollie, I'm not from here."

"Kansas?"

"Well, actually-"

"From the United States? Cause, it's alright, I'm not gonna lie. It occurred to me that you were from a Soviet State with advanced genetic engineering or something."

Clark sighed and she also noticed the claminess of his palm, something completely psychosomatic for him. "I'm not from this galaxy."

Oliver's drink fell from his hand and would have shattered if Clark hadn't blurred to catch it. "What?"

"I...Clark was born on a planet called Krypton," she clarified. "It's why he has abilities. Being on Earth, under a yellow sun basically supercharges him, like a solar battery."

"That's allergic to the sun?"

"Uh, I got rebooted a little," Clark admitted, sighing when Oliver poured himself a second decanter instead of just taking the drink back from him. Right, cause you could catch Kryptonian.

"How? Is this a hit twenty, get an allergy thing?"

"No, and I'm twenty one in May," he added. "My point is that well...you have to not freak out."

Oliver frowned but took a seat behind his desk. "Okay. My friend whose powers are glitching due to a new solar allergy, my new alien friend-"

"I've been your friend for over a year," Clark countered softly. "I'm still the same guy. I just have a major problem right now with my powers, okay?"

"Alien powers."

"Oliver, I'm going to need to talk to you about some other things after this. Don't let me forget," she added. "Some upgrades to my clearance." Oh she had things to tell him.

"Sure, sidekick," Oliver answered, still frowning at Clark. "So you're E.T.?"

Clark snorted. "I'm feeling more like fucking Dracula these days."

"Now I'm lost."

Chloe sighed and was thankful when Clark sat back down next to her, when he accepted her hand back in his. "Okay, Clark landed here in 1989 with the first shower. His ship's programmed to help him, in theory but in practice it's an asshole. The Artificial Intelligence from it got pissy with him over releasing the clone of his crazy uncle and biological mom from a crystal that his biological cousin, Kara, brought with her out of stasis and-"

"These notes could be more Cliffy," Oliver drolled. "Okay, Clark has a spaceship. It went Hal 9,000 on him because he now has a mom and sister on Earth?"

" Cousin ," Clark corrected. "I wouldn't even bring that up but part of what I could use help with is having the Justice Bros-"

"Hey!" Chloe yelped indignantly.

"Sorry, Justice. I need them to help me find my mom and Kara. I...the AI stripped their memories and abilities and they could be anywhere on the planet."

"Your ship did what?"

"The AI, it sort of made a home for itself by now in a place that it calls the Fortress of Solitude," Clark amended, frowning when Oliver stilled. "I...it's not like I use it as a weapon!"

"Good," Oliver said, tone even.

"But, yeah, it's broken and it's crazy and it blamed my cousin and my mom for things my uncle's clone was doing-"

"That weird eclipse this week?"

Chloe nodded. "Exactly. He was trying to block out the sun forever. Clark's planet was an ice planet, not big on heat."

"Okay then. You do know that even I hang out with Mer-People and Cyborgs that if I hadn't seen all the things Clark can do, I'd just assume you two had been eating mushrooms."

"We're not," she defended. "Basically, Clark's evil uncle pissed the AI off and it took it out on about everyone. It banished the uncle for good and that's great, but it also took out a lot of wrath on Clark, Kara, and Lara."

"The mom?"

She nodded. "It stripped Kara and Lara of their powers and memories and exiled them somewhere and we don't know where. I...it gave Clark a solar allergy, I guess is the best way to phrase it."

"But it's supposed to help you?"

Clark crossed his arms over his chest. "Think about as loving as Lionel is towards Lex. Oliver, it's pretty bad. My powers are fine, sure. They work great, as long as I'm not in direct sunlight."

"What happens if you're in sunlight? Do you like melt? Is this a Gremlins thing?"

Clark sighed. "No, I...I turn to stone."

Clark was still in the medical bay, recovering from Emil's first round of tests and Chloe was glad she'd stopped and bought a dozen Kryptonite rocks from the tourist trap by the Talon before they left for his farm. Apparently, UV light or a tanning bed (Emil had provided both options essentially for his tests) had the exact same effect as real sunlight on him. Clark had tried both and was now resting from the UV light test, having the green K refuel him from what the artificial light had taken.

She could tell it was taking a minute, as the bright light had not faded from down the hall by the sick bay.

Sighing, she watched as Oliver shut the door to his own bedroom and sat down on the bed, his third Scotch shaking in his hand. "What the Hell? This is new ?"

"Since two nights ago when Jor-El did this to him, yes."

"I...Jesus, Chloe, I don't even know where you start with this. The way he screamed when the light came on...his skin? What the fuck was that?"

"Crystals really. I have no idea why it has that reaction. There are a lot of different types where he's from, we've run across them via the Fortress. I don't know how Jor-El made it so sunlight essentially makes it grow all over him. We're hoping that Emil can explain it. Hell that he can fix it."

"Because the Fortress won't."

"It's a punishment because it thinks Clark's too human."

"Irony," Oliver muttered.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "He doesn't want the others to know. He knows it's scary. He's maintaining mostly but it's scaring the Hell out of him. Don't let Bart, Victor, or A.C. know, please."

"Do Lana and Senator Kent know?"

"Lana's on a break with him right now, long story. We were going to get Emil's thoughts first and talk to Martha tomorrow night."

"After sunset."

"For a while, always after sunset, at least until Emil can rehab him."

"So Clark's not human."

"Yeah, we established that. Neither is A.C. I'm sure there are other people with abilities you'll meet who were never human to start either. Does it matter? Kryptonian, Atlantean?"

"But I mean alien? Phone home and there's something out there? I never thought about it much. I figured we couldn't be the only ones but I really didn't expect first contact to be some farmkid in Kansas."

"Oliver, are you okay? You get that's still Clark in there. He's really sick, but he's still the same guy."

Oliver nodded but still took a huge gulp to drain his Scotch. "Of course, it's just jarring, Chloe. Vampire's totally the wrong comparison, unless he drinks blood."

"He doesn't," she huffed, not amused by Oliver's tone.

"Then Gargoyle," he said. "When I was a kid, my parents were on business for some reason in Notre Dame. I honestly can't remember why, but they took me along with them. I was taking a tour with my nanny of the bell tower and they explained about why they had monsters on a church."

"To scare the demons away," she finished. "I went to Catechism too, Ollie. He's still Clark and, Kansas or Krypton, it doesn't matter where he was born. He's one of us here and Justice and you're gonna help him."

"Doing that. Anything Emil can do, anything he needs, I'll pay Chloe. If he can't do it, we'll even go to the drawing board on things and try other experts. Promise."

"Good, but that's not enough."

"It's not?" he asked, standing up and grabbing her shoulder. "I'll tap all my resources."

"No, no jokes, Oliver, no...I know it's a shock to know the truth with no prep for it. I know it's weirder to see what Jor-El did, but get your shit together. Clark's a lot of things, but a monster is not one of them."

He sat up and pulled his blue t-shirt over his head. The doctor-and he found some irony in the fact that his name was Hamilton like with the Nicodemus pollen years ago-was still making notes on his pad. "So?"

"Clark is it?"

He nodded and finished making notes. "I'll start with the saliva sample you gave me for DNA analysis."

"Or close enough," Clark replied glumly.

"We'll try and figure it out from there. I assume, that tissue samples are impossible."

He nodded. "The green rocks used to be able to make my skin pierce but not now. I think saliva's all you're going to get, sorry."

The doctor nodded again, very professional. He was polite, had a decent bedside manner, and was actually much more calm about everything than Oliver. Clark honestly had expected Dr. Emil to treat him much more like a prized specimen than any other patient.

"We'll work on it. Clark, though, I feel it's fair to warn you, that this is beyond my purview. I've worked often with the meteor infected or even individuals who are special like Bart or A.C. It could take years for me to even have hopes of understanding your make up. I...it's not sure until I get a good look at your cells under the microscope...but I think we need to have a realistic set of expectations."

"Like I'm cosmically screwed?"

"I didn't say that. I only don't want to give false hope. I may find something, I may not, but I am not a miracle worker, Mr. Kent."

"I could use one of those. Thank you and Oliver both for trying. I...well I better go see Chloe before I head out to at least patrol a bit. I could stand to get outside for a bit and I have a lot of time still before sunrise."

"Very well. I'll have the preliminary analysis in two days."

Clark shrugged on his favorite red jacket and shut the doors of the sick bay behind him, "Thanks."

Finding Chloe wasn't hard. She had gone to Oliver's bedroom in order to talk to him privately. Clark assumed it had to do more with reaming him out over being a Xenophobic ass than with salary discussions or equipment upgrades. He neared the door and was about to reach up to knock when he Oliver began to get louder, more agitated. Even a human would have heard it:

"Of course, it's just jarring, Chloe. Vampire's totally the wrong comparison, unless he drinks blood.

Clark shuddered. It still was a pretty obvious analogy, wasn't it? Couldn't go out in the fucking daylight anymore could he?

Chloe answered back, her tone short He doesn't. . Clark nodded. Go ahead and tell him, Chlo.

Then Gargoyle, Oliver answered back. When I was a kid, my parents were on business for some reason in Notre Dame. I honestly can't remember why, but they took me along with them. I was taking a tour with my nanny of the bell tower and they explained about why they had monsters on a church.

To scare the demons away, she finished. I went to Catechism too, Ollie.

That was enough. Clark didn't want to deal with this anymore. He had known Oliver wouldn't be able to handle it and having him and Chloe debating the closest Earth equivalent for what Jor-El had done to him was seriously pissing him off. Shaking his head, Clark blurred off into the city.

Fuck it, maybe he'd find a perch of his own.


	4. Chapter 4

4

Stopping three muggings and a bank robbery should have soothed him. It wasn't that he did a lot of patrolling. In Smallville, he had the luck of running into trouble, like with even with his evil uncle or stalkers coming directly to the farm. He just wasn't as used to being proactive. Maybe he should have been or should have done something differently, maybe if he just had approached his life differently, Jor-El wouldn't have done it.

Of course, his wannabe father was a sadistic asshole. He'd have found some pretext either now or later to abuse him. Considering his first real contact with the AI, that was a futile hope. Whatever was true, if Raya was right about his supposed generosity and goodness and the AI was damaged, or if there was always something more insidious about the living Jor-El, Clark really didn't know. What was obvious was the intelligence that had come with his ship, for whatever reason, was against him, wanted to hurt him. Yes, he made his mistake with the blue crystal and Lara.

But why he merited branding, brainwashing, stolen powers, a dead father, and now _this _ , Clark couldn't fathom. If this was what the AI thought "good" parenting was, he didn't want to know what abusive was considered like on Krypton.

He was sitting outside now, it was half past five and he'd have to go in soon, but he had a bit longer to look at the city from Oliver's balcony. From up there, everyone seemed so small. Opening up his ears more than usual, Clark could hear the loud beats from millions over the city. Metropolis wasn't quite New York large but there were at least eight million people there and if Clark let himself, he could be taken in by the wave of their heartbeats, by the hustle of a city that, once upon a time, he'd very much wanted to make his own.

"Clark?"

He snapped his head up and forced his hearing back to normal. He offered Chloe a modest smile. "Hey, how was getting your clearance upped?"

She sighed and pulled her purple sweater tighter around her. "Why do I feel that you already know me talking to Oliver had nothing to do with salary or more tech?"

He shrugged and scooted over on the modest bench, letting her sit beside him. "Because you can read me better than anyone I know and I'm the same way with you."

"Duly noted," she replied, giving him a quick half hug around the shoulders. He really appreciated that. "How was being out and about?"

"Not bad, helps with the stir crazy during the day," he admitted. "Made Metropolis a little more safe, a bit of work done for truth and justice."

"And other stuff," she added. "I know you don't usually eavesdrop, that it's not your style-"

"I might have overheard a little. You got pretty mad at Ollie."

She snorted. "How much did you hear?"

"I left after churches in Paris came up. Next I'll get compared to the creature from the black lagoon."

"That's more A.C., what with the breathing under water well and hating pants."

He laughed. "We're all so weird."

"Definitely. Clark," she said, her eyes focusing fully on his. "Ollie's just confused. I mean, don't take this the wrong way, but I can almost get some of it."

"Really?" he asked, working to keep his tone even.

"No, I mean he just found out that the biggest question anyone on Earth has, except for maybe religious stuff, also has an answer. For good or ill, we're not technically alone in the universe."

"Well yeah, if you take into account one orphan and whatever insane Phantoms are still in the Zone."

"And the Manhunter," she corrected. "Although I don't think he's crossed Oliver's path yet. I get the shell shock because when you told me, I totally spent a few weeks just going over and over in my head how big that was. I mean, I suspected with Cyrus, definitely wanted it to be true."

"Just happens to be real with me?" he offered.

"Exactly. That's huge. Oliver's just not handling it terribly well or even politely. I...I can't blame him for being overwhelmed with it cause it's a big honking deal in the scope of things, not about your personally but the whole 'the truth is out there' part. Still, yes, I gave him an ear full about his attitude. He's coming off a lot xenophobic and for someone who recruits people with abilities, that's pretty assholey."

Clark sighed. "Well, _I'm _ not thrilled with it either. You know I'd trade almost anything to be human like everyone else. I definitely hate what Jor-El just did in his never ending parade of punishments."

"And just because Jor-El flipped some switch in your biology and fucked things up until he sees fit or we find another avenue, it doesn't give Oliver a right or even an excuse to treat you like a leper. You're still you, just more of a night owl currently."

"Wasn't ever that fond of early mornings, no. I just...this sucks."

"I know," and one small hand was over his own. "I know it sucks but we'll figure it out. There's always something and Emil's very smart."

"I know. I just...why would you do this to someone? Jor-El wants me to do, well, I hope help the world and not take it over. I don't know how it thinks that torturing me is going to prepare me for anything like that."

"I think it's broken. It's not thinking clearly at all, maybe the stones were buried too long. Who knows? It's wrong, Clark. We'll fix this but the Fortress? It's defective and nothing it's tried to teach you is worth a damn. Nothing that has to be taught by physical punishment is right."

"Well, except for getting assigned extra barn chores. Mom's very smart about how to get me to comply."

She grinned back at him. "Martha's handy about getting you to learn your lessons with extra horse chores or less pie, sure."

"Tonight's really going to hurt her, isn't it?"

She sighed and squeezed his hand. "You wanted to meet your birth mother or close enough. It's understandable, but, yeah, it wasn't a smart thing to do and I think it's going to be hard to explain to her without hurting her feelings some."

"Mom has so much going for her now without me messing her life up. The senate stuff is super important and she's great at it."

"So having a replacement mom was a good idea?"

He pulled his hand away slowly and ignored her frown. "No and I know it's not actually Lara, that the clone has her memories to an extent and it's the same DNA but she's not exactly Lara the way that monster wasn't actually Zor-El, but she is Kryptonian. She and Kara...all this interplanetary intrigue and pain and everything else? It'd follow them around too. Mom has put up with so much for my sake for over eighteen years and it cost her dad or being able to adopt other kids. Hell, she barely even e-mails grandpa even now because there's so much about me that has to stay quiet."

"You think you owe her better."

"I think she has this fresh start away from Smallville and I shouldn't drag her down with my crap, Chloe."

She sighed. "I don't think that's how most moms work. Hell, I don't think that's how my mom works. If she were selfish, she'd have had Ollie start synthesizing things for her, but she doesn't want to be used as a weapon to hurt me or anyone else. I hate it, but in her own way she chose this crazy fight. Your mom did when she took you home and keeps doing it. I mean, you said she stopped Kal-El, right?"

"Yeah, but then dad died and it's still my fault. I'm the one who got him the heart condition."

" _ Jor-El _ killed him," Chloe spat.

"And Jor-El's in their lives cause the took home his alien son."

"Martha doesn't see it that way."

He nodded and stood up. Clark could already see the sunlight bleeding across the horizon. The last thing he wanted was to go to stone when Chloe's closest green K supply was across town in her office. "I do. I was so wrong to try and clone Lara, I get that, even without the punishment, but mom deserves more than my crazy life can give her."

"So tell me again why we don't have cable yet?" Lois asked, sitting next to her at the cafeteria table.

Chloe rolled her eyes and took a sip of her clam chowder. "Clark's got to go to D.C. tonight and he's already scrambled to get the Hubbard's to cover milking for a bit and Shelby stuff."

Lois frowned. "Chlo, is everything okay? Martha's not sick is she? I just emailed her the other day, and she seemed pretty excited about her immigration reform bill going national."

"No, Clark just thought he needed some time. Kara's gone back to Minnesota for the Christmas season and I think he's feeling extra nostalgic. I mean, it's still only his second Christmas since Mr. Kent."

"Oh, well I'll break down and call cable today. Do he or Martha need anything?"

Chloe smiled and stirred her soup. Lois, despite her romantic foolishness, was a good big sister and viewed herself as an erstwhile Kent. If Martha (or even Clark) ever needed anything, Lois would be first in line to give it. Hell, she'd probably con half the army to being there with her. Of course, since Lois didn't have an advanced degree in Kryptonian biology, there wasn't anything she could do.

"Not really. I...Clark might have to give up Shelby for a while. There's a rat problem on the farm and he can't put out the right traps and not put Shelby at risk." It amazed her how good she'd gotten at lying and covering for Clark, especially since Alicia had shown her everything three years ago. It just rolled of the tongue by now.

"So you offered for us to take in the walking allergy for a few weeks?"

Chloe blushed. "Can we? It'd make him feel peppier if Shelby's not exiled all the way to D.C."

Lois shrugged. "Alright but only because I'll be in Geneva most of the vacation time we get. Daddy tracked down Lucy and we're trying that functional family thing. Do you wanna come? Be that buffer between me and the rest?"

She shook her head. "Nah, I think I'll stay around. Probably visit dad in Gotham and hang out with the Kents." Lois smirked and she frowned. "What?"

"Oh nothing."

"It's totally something."

"You just seem cozy on the farm."

"When aren't I? Clark and Lana are having one of those off periods."

Her cousin glared at her and rubbed her neck. "Yeah, amazing what happens when you girlfriend goes nuts and kicks people through glass."

"Yeah," Chloe replied, still not wanting to bash Lana too hard but equally furious for the other girl's spree. "I don't think he was happy about what happened to you and she went after him too. It was a bad day for everyone. Still, what's the smile for?"

"I'm just...I know he and Lana haven't called it officially quits because when do they ever give the drama up."

"But?"

"If he does ever get a clue, he'd be lucky to ask you out."

Chloe rolled her eyes. That ship had sailed and hit an iceberg around freshman year of high school. "Uh-huh, can I have what you're huffing?"

"I dunno. I just feel lately like you just have to seize your chances."

"Like you and Grant?" Chloe asked, her voice a hush.

Her cousin blushed and looked at her hands. "I said that-"

"Lana saw you being cozy when she burst in. I can put clues together. I know it seems like a good idea and that you can't help whom you love but it's still your career and reputation on the line. Do you really want to risk it like this?"

"I love him."

Chloe nodded. "Do you really? I know everything with Oliver hit so hard last winter. Are you sure you're not just clinging to Grant not to be alone."

"Ollie's special. I mean no one's that great but Grant appreciates me."

"Sometimes during work hours," Chloe drawled.

"I-"

"Lois, just don't confuse substituting one guy for another as love and, I know you don't want to be alone, but you have a great career ahead of you. You have real promise as a reporter, especially after everything you did covering the Green Arrow. Don't mess that up because you're lonely." She stood up and took her tray to the garbage, hoping that seed was enough to start talking her cousin out of reckless choices.


End file.
